February 22, 2024

Flowers and Handcuffs for Navalny


Flowers and Handcuffs for Navalny
Flowers left for Navalny in Moscow. SotaVision, Telegram.

On February 16 and 17, makeshift memorials and protests for Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny sprung up across Russia and the world.

In Moscow, police pushed protestors away from the "Wall of Grief" and detained anyone carrying banners. Mourners also gathered at the Muzeon Park's monument of the repressed, but police threw all flowers into the snow.

In St. Petersburg, Archbishop Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko was set to celebrate a civil funeral for Navalny at the Solovetsky Stone. As the cleric was leaving his house, he was arrested. The ceremony carried on without him, but attendees were arrested.

Yekaterinburg woke up to graffiti commemorating the late Navalny. Arrests in connection with Navalny memorials have also been documented in Arkhangelsk, Kazan, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk, and Skytyvkar, among other cities. Flowers for the Russian opposition leader have even been laid in annexed Luhansk.

In London, residents left bouquets and signs that read, "You can kill Navalny but not the opposition, we are here" and "Not all heroes wear capes." In Helsinki, Paris, and Lisbon, candles were accompanied by signs with the words "Don't give up," a signature phrase of the Russian opposition leader. Portraits of Navalny stood firmly in Almaty, Amsterdam, Bishkek, Riga, Tokyo, Vilnius, and Yerevan. In Turin, mourners waved blue and white flags and carried a sign in Italian that read, "Putin is a War Criminal." Rallies for Navalny were organized in cities in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Poland, Serbia, and the United States, among others. 

In Tashkent, Uzbekistan, mourners were allowed to leave flowers but were quickly dispersed by security forces. Despite Turkey's NATO membership, Istanbul police did not allow protests for Navalny; four people protesting in front of the Russian consulate were detained, but mourners left floral arrangements and commemorative cards at a memorial for Mehmet Ayvalıtaş, a twenty-year-old killed by a taxi during anti-government protests in 2013. Police quickly removed all objects from the scene.

Navalny, who appeared in good health in a Russian court hearing on February 15, died after falling ill during a walk in the Kharp Prison complex the next day. Nearly 400 mourners have so far been arrested in Russia at the time of this writing.

Navalny's body has not yet been returned to his family. The Russian president has not commented on Navalny's death.

You Might Also Like

Repression Impacts Lawyers
  • October 17, 2023

Repression Impacts Lawyers

A court in Moscow has ordered the arrest of lawyers representing Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, charging them with participation in an "extremist community."
Navalny, Lexiconvict
  • September 06, 2023

Navalny, Lexiconvict

The Russian Supreme Court upholds a Kafkaesque ban on Navalny using prison slang.
Navalny Launches Antiwar Campaign
  • June 21, 2023

Navalny Launches Antiwar Campaign

Politician and political prisoner Alexei Navaly is launching a "big propaganda machine" to counter Putin and pro-war propaganda.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955